Post War U-boat events

This compilation is not complete as such and will be updated frequently when we learn of new events in this time-frame. This initial version however should give you a pretty good overview of the post-war events.

2009

2008

7 February. Three boats, U-19, U-20 and U-23, scuttled off the Turkish coast in September 1944 have been located. They are reported to be in excellent condition.

2004

13 July. U-215 found off Nova ScotiaJuly 13 2004 - The boat, lost on her first patrol, was finally located at a depth of 270ft (82 m) about 130 miles (209 km) SSW of Shelburne, Nova Scotia. She was the first U-boat wreck discovered in Canadian waters: Discovery of the U-215

1999

15 September. The Norwegian minesweeper KNM Tyr located the wreck of U-735 at a depth of 195m (640ft) during a routine training mission in Oslofjord (although it has been suggested the navy was asked to look in that specific spot for the boat). The wreck was filmed by an ROV and is in fine shape, apart from some heavy damage to the stern. It lies just off Horten at 59.28,2 N 10.28,7 E.

1997

1 May. uboat.net was given its current name (formerly U-Web). At the time the site contained 1504 pages of information.

1 April. Two post-war German U-boats of Type 206A (450 tons, 22 man crew) and the escort ship Meersburg left Eckernförde, Germany to cross the Atlantic to take part in the Independence Day festivities at New York City on 4 July. Return was scheduled for 5 August 1997. This was the longest transit by German U-boats since the end of World War II.

1996

21 September. A memorial to the crew of U-250, sunk 30 July 1944, was unveiled at Kronstadt Russian naval base, St. Petersburg.

29 May. U-534 arrived at Birkenhead, across the river Mersey from Liverpool, England for restoration by the Warship Preservation Trust. She was raised from the Kattegat in 1993.

1995

22 July. U-Web - The U-boat War 1939-1945 website, based in Iceland, appeared on the internet. It has since become one of the most successful of all military history websites. It was renamed uboat.net on 1 May 1997.

1994

8 October. U-11, U-12 and U-18 visited Reykjavik, Iceland, the birthplace of uboat.net - the third time German U-boats had done so. The first was by U-27, commanded by Kapitän z.S. von Friedeburg in the summer of 1939, and the second was in September the same year when Kptlt. Lemp put an injured man ashore from U-30.

1993

12 December. The survivors of the sinking of the British destroyer HMS Tynedale by U-593 in 1943 invited ex-commander Kptlt. Gerd Kelbling and one of his former crew to attend a 50th anniversary commemoration of the event in Hexham, England. They were welcomed with friendship and respect.

1992

8 October. Former crew from U-161, U-162 and U-615 attended the dedication of a memorial at Port of Spain, Trinidad for U-boat men killed in action in the Caribbean.

2 October. A large meeting of former Seehund men in Kiel during 2-4 Oct. Among the guests was Admiral Eberhardt Godt.

1990

26 September. Former commander of U-732, Oblt. Claus-Peter Carlsen paid his last respects to those lost, at the position she was sunk at in the Straits of Gibraltar. He cast a bouquet of flowers onto the sea from Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Hart with the following dedication: "In memory of U-732 and the dead members of her crew. The commander and his crew members who survived." The commander of the British naval base at Gibraltar, HMS Rooke, afterwards told him: "It was the least I could do for you".

1985

29 June. The wreck of U-1105 was discovered in Chesapeake Bay by a team of divers led by Uwe Lovas.

1981

21 July. The Canadian Coast Guard finally located German weather station Kurt, set up on Labrador by U-537 on 23 Oct. 1943.

1970

28 November. Guðmundur Helgason, founder of this site, was born in Siglufjörður, in northern Iceland.

27 September. The U-Boot-Ehrenmal (memorial) at Möltenort, Germany reopened. 89 bronze plaques record the names of all 30,003 U-boat men who died in the war.

2 May. The last WW2 U-boat still in service, as Spanish submarine S-01 (G-7 until June 15 1961), ex U-573, was decommissioned. Besides her service in the navy, the Spanish admiralty had also loaned her to appear in film productions, most famously as U-47 in the German film of the same name.

1969

21 May. The former U-2518 was sold to SPA Lotti at La Spezia, Italy and was broken up later that summer.

1968

30 September. U-Hecht ('pike'), formerly U-2367, was stricken from the Federal German Navy.

1967

17 October. The French submarine Roland Morrilot (formerly U-2518) was stricken from service. She was broken up in 1968 as Q426.

1966

19 September. 5 days after sinking with 19 dead, U-Hai (formerly U-2365) was raised from the bottom of the North Sea in position 55.15N, 04.22E and subsequently scrapped.

14 September. U-2365 when raised in 1956 sank at 1854hrs in the North Sea in position 55.15N, 04.22E, after taking on water. Raised on 19 Sept 1966 from 47 metres depth and broken up.

1963

9 July. The French Q339 (former U-471) was stricken from service and broken up.

11 March. The former U-766 was stricken as the French Q335 and broken up.

1962

15 December. KNM Kaura (the former U-995) was stricken from Norwegian service.

20 March. U-1, the first post-war U-boat (Type 201), was commissioned in the Bundesmarine (the Federal German Navy). Her commander was Korvkpt. Heinz Baumann, captain of U-2333 1944-1945.

1961

16 September. The Verband deutscher U-Bootfahrer VdU (Union of former German U-boat men) was founded.

1 June. The Norwegian submarine KNM Kinn (ex. U-1202) was transferred to Hamburg, Germany, where she would be broken up in 1963.

1960

1 September. The former U-2540 was commissioned into the Federal German Navy (Bundesmarine) as Wilhelm Bauer (Y-880).

1959

18 August. The former U-123 stricken from French service (then named Q165). Broken up.

1958

22 August. U-843 was raised from the Kattegat after being sunk there in April 1945.

2 August. More than 1,500 former U-boat men gathered for the second meeting of the Hamburg U-boat Comrades Association (U-KH). Among them for the first time was Großadmiral (a.d.) Karl Dönitz.

1957

1 October. The former U-2367 was commissioned into the Federal German Navy as U-Hecht (S 171) under Kptlt. Hans-Heinrich Hass, commander of U-2324 1944-1945.

15 August. The former U-2365 was commissioned into the Federal German Navy as U-Hai (S 170). Her commander was Kaptlt. Walter Ehrhardt, commander of U-1016 1944-1945.

1955

15 September. The former German U-boat U-3008, then in American hands, was sold for scrap to Loudes Iron & Metal Co.

1952

1 December. U-995 was commissioned into the Royal Norwegian Navy as KNM Kaura.

1951

7 October. The former U-2513 was sunk by the USS Owens off Key West. Fla. USA.

1 July. The former U-1202 was taken into service by the Norwegian navy as KNM Kinn.

1950

15 June. The breaking up of the former U-953 in England began, following extensive testing.

1949

9 November. Korvkpt. Karl-Heinz Karl-Heinz Moehle left a German prison after three years in captivity. He was sentenced in 1946 for passing on the Laconia order.

30 October. The breaking up of former U-3017, possibly as N 41, at Newport, Wales.

19 September. U-1105 was sunk during explosives trials in the lower Potomac river.

12 May. All U-boats in the Narvik area at the end of the war were moved to Skjomenfjord on 12 May on Allied orders to avoid conflict with the Norwegians. On 15 May, a German convoy of five ships (the fleet tender Grille - previously the Aviso Grille, Adolf Hitler's personal yacht - with the staff of FdU Norwegen aboard, the fleet oiler Kärnten, the repair ship Kamerun and the depot ships Huascaran and Stella Polaris); and 15 U-boats (U-278, U-294, U-295, U-312, U-313, U-318, U-363, U-427, U-481, U-668, U-716, U-968, U-992, U-997 and U-1165) left for transfer to Trondheim, but was intercepted after two days by the 9th Escort Group off the Norwegian coast and officially surrendered. While the ships were allowed to proceed to Trondheim, the U-boats were escorted to Loch Eriboll, Scotland, arriving on 19 May. Later that month all U-boats were transferred to Lisahally or Loch Ryan for Operation Deadlight.

1948

1947

27 November. U-530 was scuttled north-east of Cape Cod, USA, during a US Navy exercise.

21 November. U-858 was scuttled by the US Navy off New England, USA after being used for torpedo trials.

20 November. U-889 was scuttled by the US Navy off New England after being used for torpedo trials.

20 November. U-234 was scuttled by the US Navy after trials off Cape Cod.

21 October. U-190 was sunk off Nova Scotia by the Royal Canadian Navy on 21 October 1947 as a training exercise called "Operation Scuttled". The site chosen was the position off Halifax where she sank HMCS Esquimalt in 1945, the last Canadian vessel lost to enemy action in WW2.

27 May. Former German U-boats U-18 & U-24 were scuttled south of Sevastopol in the Black Sea by torpedoes from Soviet submarine M-120.

1946

12 December. The Soviet TS-16, the former U-9, was broken up at some point shortly after this date.

6 December. U-2326 was transferred to France and sank in an accident on this date: 17 dead. Raised and broken up.

13 November. U-977 was torpedoed off Massachusetts, USA by the US Navy during exercises.

23 October. The former U-471 left port for the first time in the service of the French navy as Mille after repair.

30 April. The ex-U-511, the Japanese RO-500, was scuttled by US Navy at Maizuru.

14 February. The former U-2518 was transferred from the US to the French navy and became the Roland Morillot.

3 June. The crew of U-1277 disembarked from the scuttled boat in rubber dinghies, landing on the beach at Angeiras north of Oporto on 3 June 1945. They were then interned by Portuguese authorities in the Castelo de Sao Jose da Foz in Oporto, and a few days later handed over to a British warship in Lisbon. They were not released from POW camp until 1947.